With colorful billboards at train stations, TV commercials showing Brazilian soccer legend Zico or a carefree, successful young woman, major consumer loan firms seem to have shed the shady images that previously haunted them.
Indeed, these firms, which extend unsecured, high-interest-rate loans, have enjoyed brisk business in recent years amid the nation's prolonged economic slump.
As the industry has thrived, however, more people have filed for personal bankruptcy amid heavy debt burdens.